DRAMA CLUB RECAP: Temptation Episodes 13-14 (1/2)

Here we go, Tempters - another week of smirks and secrets, at your service! We've got all of the classics for you: revenge plots, a lost-in-love main couple, spying, and...hugs. Lots and lots of hugs.

While I was trying to decide what I was supposed to talk about this week, I noticed the prevalence of this sometimes innocent form of skinship. Now, although I avoid receiving hugs, I have absolutely no qualms about rambling on about them. Since this week’s episodes were rampant with sweet hugs with not-so-sweet implications, it works out well for me!

With the *ahem* events that transpired last week, Seok Hoon and Se Young need a break. Was the temporary break-up necessarily what I had in mind? Not quite, but it had to happen sometime. When Se Young is with Seok Hoon, and the business they’re working on is of the less-dressed-up sort (you may interpret that however you wish), she’s living out the young dream she missed out on. Her face lightens up, and even when she’s tired and pale, her lips can always find the energy to pull into a small smile to convey how far she’s fallen in love.

This is not the woman we met a month and a half ago. She had no one to worry about her beyond the concerns over her hectic work schedule. She had no one to pull down her guard for. At the time, Se Young was in a better physical condition, but hey, first loves and menopause take their toll, I can imagine.

Seok Hoon, to Se Young, is someone who cares for no other reason than he just does. Her family cares about her to an extent because she’s grown up with her father and sister. Seok Hoon actually had more reasons to despise her than love her. Now, he’s grown protective and tender towards her, despite Se Young’s attempts to distract the man from the pills in her purse (which are starting to lose their affect just a tad.).

While short, the camping trip only adds on to the dream Se Young is living. She has this man looking after her, and they are surrounded by the lightning bugs that shield the couple from the pressures of society. The fire is intimate, and so is the couple.

I’m sure some of you viewers would be more than ecstatic if Seok Hoon took you on a camping trip...preferably to a place with a creek. But the director already spoiled you all up until now, so tender hugs will have to do.

Even the supposed parting hug is soft. Se Young wants to break up? Nah, let Seok Hoon’s arm muscles pull you back in. He was pushing the President of Smirks away just ten episodes ago, unwilling to outright say his marriage was on its last legs. Now, he can’t let the woman go (say what you will - you know they’ll be back together soon), now that she’s softened that smirk for him.

While not quite as *ahem* passionate as last week’s…”hugs,” or heavy sighs of intimate relief, what Temptation’s main couple has is something sweet. Sure, the context surrounding the relationship is nowhere near desirable. However, if you were to simply see Se Young and Seok Hoon breathing together, it’s easy to tell that Rich Father’s refusal to accept the relationship won’t keep these two apart.

Well, Pamela, Se Young and Seok Hoon can’t even keep Se Young and Seok Hoon apart.

True, true.

And now we head into Na Hong Joo territory. Even though her romantic relationship with Seok Hoon is basically over, she still poses a threat to Se Young. Se Young’s post-break-up dream is just her losing her ability to suppress her fears and weakness - at least in what the audience sees when she’s alone. Hong Joo kissed and hugged and *ahem’d* Seok Hoon first. However, Hong Joo, while unable to ignore Seok Hoon’s existence, has a different man to worry about.

Most of us expected that Min Woo wouldn’t remain faithful for long. I wanted to be an optimistic, naive viewer, but there’s no avoiding the truth. Min Woo’s only hugging Hong Joo because that’s all the skinship she’s giving him. If he’s looking for some lusty time with Hong Joo, I don’t think forced kisses, child interruptions, and drunk lusty time with other women will get him anywhere.

Here’s a lesson for me to learn for my eventual romances: don’t be with a man who hugs me to make me feel close enough for…*ahem*.

Wow, Pamela, you’ve been using that substitute word quite a bit, considering your plan was to just babble on about hugging.

Well...I could babble on about Hong Joo’s other frustrations as a rich person’s new wife, but then Yoon A would glare at me. Bitter children are terrifying, so let’s just talk about the failures of love.

Hong Joo has become wary of intimacy since her first marriage began to get rocky. What Min Woo has become is...well, he hasn’t become anything different since the start of the drama. We’ve seen him put on a wider variety of masks, and the only people who know how ruthless those masks are are the people he’s dealt with in business. My hope for his character is, unless he becomes the villain character that gets to experience crashing and burning - which is certainly always fun - that Hong Joo will get to pull down that final mask of lies and hormones. For both of their sakes.

Until that happens, we always have our standard Kdrama couple, Se Jin and Hong Gyu.

I’m so glad Se Jin was successful in Code Name: Blue-Sweatered Bassist. I’m also glad that I am able to make a pathetic fail of a Kpop pun.

The relationship between Hong Gyu and Se Jin is a familiar one that has a lot of elements borrowed from the staple Kdrama relationships, and that’s perfectly fine with me. The relationship is also just a bit quieter - well, except when Se Jin isn’t. In any case, they’re hug-and-make-up scene just brightens my day. Hong Gyu and Se Jin don’t have an infallible relationship, but the two are willing to enjoy driving each other crazy, and that gets the giddy feels going.

Now, once Hong Gyu is finished brooding over liking the sister of his sister’s enemy, we can all be happy. I’ll even reward him with some ice cream because it’s sweet - like his hugs, and like his face. Now, once the rest of the characters get around to respecting the existence of romance, they can get some ice cream, too. And a hug.